Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Birthday to my niece Lauren! She turned the big 13 on Halloween!!

My mom took her and my nephew JT to go ride go karts on Saturday while she was watching Dane for us. It is always easier when my mom is watching Dane if she brings the kids with her. Dane loves both of them, and they do a great job entertaining him. Lauren is really good with him now, she has really grown up in the last year. Saturday they were gone all day doing the go karts, going out to eat, shopping etc. They had a blast, and Dane even managed to get some shut eye in the car with my mom for about an hour while the kids were doing their thing.

Sunday before they headed back to Orange we took Lauren out for a birthday lunch at Don Julio's.

I can't believe that she is already 13!! I was a senior in high school when she was born! Crazy how time flies! Anyway, Lauren had a good birthday and Dane really enjoyed having my mom, Lauren and JT here to play with him. Happy 13th Lauren!!

This blog contains an overload of pictures and just as many words. It is possible that your eyes could go blurry due to an excessive brain overload and turn to a big tub of mush.

This post contains a lot of adrenaline, crazy hair, and HUGE smiles.

Do Not TRY THIS AT HOME

This could cause serious harm if not done with trained professionals.

You may want to sit down for what you are about to see.

Please know that you have been forewarned...

Kevin's 35th birthday was Saturday, October 30th!! **Paw Paw Alert**

And Since I feel like 35 is a big birthday I really wanted to do something special for him. The last couple years he has had low key birthdays, but this one was anything but low key!!! I racked my brain for a couple weeks in early October trying to think of something great. I looked up Houston events online, concerts, sporting events etc etc. But, nothing was really catching my attention. And then one day while I was at work I had an epiphany. This idea hit me, and I knew that this was it!! Probably the best idea I have ever had, if I do say so myself. He had mentioned doing this on several occasions to me, but it's one of those things that you would never sign up to do. The tricky part was having to keep this a secret for a good 2 1/2 weeks. I got it all organized and even went ahead and paid for it, because I was pretty confident that he would be very excited.

Well, Saturday morning my mom along with my niece and nephew started making their way to Houston. I get a phone call about 30 minutes into their drive from my mom saying that she had a blow out on the highway. I have to admit that initially hearing this I started to doubt what I had planned. I thought could this be a sign that this isn't a good idea? I brushed it off, and luckily a wrecker wasn't far from my mom on the road and was able to change her tire within 20 minutes. Also, she had a regular size tire as a spare so she was able to continue on at a normal speed. All was well.

Once they arrived Kevin and I headed out to go eat at Buffalo Grill, which Kevin had been craving for weeks now. He loves their breakfast, and was really looking forward to having his birthday brunch there. Well, we get in line to be seated, and within about 10 minutes of being there we are told that they are having to close the restaurant because the kitchen had caught on fire. Seriously! Talk about really starting to doubt if these were all signs that we should not go to our destination. In my mind I was freaking out!! Kevin had no idea what was planned or he probably would have freaked out too! We decided on PF Chang's to eat lunch, but as we started to drive over to the restaurant we got scared that they may be a restaurant that didn't serve lunch. So, I had decided that if they didn't then everything was canceled and I would come up with a plan B.

Whew! They did! And we had a wonderful lunch! And the day started going smoothly after that.

We got in the car and I made Kevin put on a blind fold. I didn't want him to see where we were going, because I didn't want anything to give it away.

We arrived. And I told him to take off his blind fold.

That's right my friends!!! SKY DIVING!!!

He was shocked! At first he didn't say anything, just looked at me and out the window over and over. I asked him if this was a bad idea, and he immediately said no no this is great! He was probably thinking why did I ever say I wanted to do this, now I really have too!! haha

As we were standing out in the parking lot he got a little nervous! But, quickly the nerves went away and he started to get pumped and was ready!!

He had to fill out a consent basically saying that he is aware that this could cause bodily harm or even death, and that they could not be sued if his parachute did not open! The consent packet did not sugar coat anything, and it was a little unsettling to read! But, it wanted to make sure that there was no confusion that this was a risky adventure! I think this is about the time that I started to feel nervous!!! I couldn't believe that I had signed my husband up to do this!

Mr Cool, not nervous at all!

After filling out paper work we had to attend a "class" to get an idea of what was going to take place. Basically, what I gathered from it was that he would be wearing a suit, attached to a tandem diver and they would be jumping out of the plane! Pretty simple!

I wanted to make sure that I got this experience on video!! They offered a video guy to jump out with him and capture it all on tape. They did a pre- interview, talked to him on the plane, and videoed the entire jump and interviewed him afterwards. Pretty neat! It's a 7 minute video, so I'm not sure if I will be able to load it on here... but I will try!

This is Pat below...the Tandem diver who would be attached to Kevin. I told Pat several times to make sure that he attached Kevin correctly! I wanted him safe and sound! Everyone that worked there was real nice, but were all adrenaline junkies...not your normal everyday type of people. :) But, Pat was cool and assured me that Kevin would survive and he would love it!

Right before they were about to go wait on the plane Pat asked if I wanted to observe and ride with them. He acted like it was a regular plane ride, and I would watch them jump and then the plane would take me back down. Sounded awesome so I agreed. I wasn't expecting to be able to go up in the plane with them, but I was really excited to be able to take pictures of Kevin on the plane. I had a little surprise waiting for me, that I will probably never forget.

Here's Kevin on the plane with several other guys who were also going sky diving for their 1st t time as well. There were probably 20 people on the plane with the tandem and video guys included.

The pilot of the plane. I found out afterwards that she was only 23 years old!!! 23 years old and had her pilots license!! Crazy!

I got to sit in the cockpit with her right next to all the controls. Crazy!! And I was very nervous that I had to sit there. Basically watching her steer the plane and seeing the ground below us was just freaky. Totally different from any other plane ride I have ever been on. Going up wasn't so bad... Getting to watch everyone jump out right in front of me was awesome. My stomach was feeling the nerves though as I watched my hubby jump out with no fear! I just prayed that he would land safely!

Once everyone jumped out I was left on the plane with just the pilot. The plane with the door open and empty looked a bit eerry!! I felt like I had just seen a movie with the military jumping out of a plane. The guys jumped out extremely fast, and they didn't wait any time between each person. One right after the other. And then you could look down and just see all these guys flying in the air! What a sight!!

Then it was time to head back to land. Without warning the pilot dove the plane straight down. I thought we were going to die. I was holding on to the arm rests with clenched fists and was pretty much in a fetal position. She did this for a while and then leveled out and then did it again 2 more times. My stomach was in my throat, and I was nearly hyperventilating. Not kidding. It was the scariest ride I have ever been on. I found out afterwards that it was totally normal because she has more people to get up in the air, so she waste no time. But, the guys that worked there thought it was hilarious that she gave me no warning that she was about to do that. If I had known the flight was going to be like that I wouldn't have done it! I would have kept myself on the ground safe and sound! I thought it would have been like a regular southwest flight!! Not so much! ha I got my surprise!

He was 14,000 feet up in the air and fell at 120 mph!!! He free fell for 60 seconds, and then was able to pull his parachute once he hit 6,000 feet. Once the parachute was pulled they slowed down and it took about 8 minutes to get down to the ground. Check out his hair and his huge smile!!! It is such a riot!! We cracked up when we saw these pictures!!!

The parachute opened!!! Can I get an AMEN!!

This is his "That was Awesome" look!

2 thumbs up!!! He wanted to do it again!!

Kevin loved it!! I should get him to do a post describing what it felt like! He kept saying the words AWESOME and AMAZING and INCREDIBLE!! I'm so happy that he was genuinely so excited to be able to sky dive and that it was an wonderful experience for him! I think this was a GREAT birthday!! Not only did he sky dive but the Aggies beat Tech, and Texas lost to Baylor which just added some extra UMPH to his big day!! haha

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Friday night we went to Dane's Halloween party at his school. On the way to the school he was very happy to wear his costume and pumped about playing games to get candy. Every room was decorated and had a game that the kids could play to win candy or prizes. Dane was happy about getting candy for all about 2.5 seconds. The 2nd game he played he got to choose a prize, and he saw toy cars in the bag and from then on he could have cared less about winning candy! Every game after that he was looking for cars in the prize buckets. I would say that he was a tad obsessive about these cars that night. ha ok, a tad is a total understatement!! He was nut-so about holding onto the cars and would not let go of them the entire evening. He wouldn't even put them down long to enough to play games. He ended up with 4 cars, and was not satisfied with that. He wanted as many as he could get. Pretty funny!!

We had a good time, and got to see the Gonzalez family. Dane enjoyed playing all the games. But, he really enjoyed getting 4 new cars!

There was a game where the kids were suppose to push an apple across the floor with their nose. Little Miss Sophia was like a pro!! She went right over there and did it the entire way. Hilarious! Dane on the other hand pushed it maybe once or twice and then either just took off running one time to the finish line or another time just threw the apple across the room. Silly Goose!

We had a good time. It was neat to bring Dane to a school party and see him participate in all the games. He is growing up!!

Friday, October 29, 2010

This is a weekend that is going to be super busy, but packed with lots of fun. I can't wait to get off work to get the weekend started! We are in between patients, so decided to do a quick post.

Tonight Dane's school is having a Halloween festival that we are looking forward to. The kids get to wear their costumes, and there will be lots of games and things for them to do. Tomorrow is Kevin's birthday. My mom is coming into town with my niece and nephew to watch Dane while Kevin and I get to enjoy the day to ourselves. My mom is taking them to do go karts and stuff like that. I have something really exciting planned for Kevin's big day. I think he will be very surprised, along with many of you!!! Stay tuned for that. It's going to be great! Sunday is my niece's birthday, so we plan to take her out to lunch. When asked what she wanted to do for her birthday she said go karts and eat Mexican food. My kind of girl! Then of course, Sunday evening will be filled with Halloween activities. This will be Dane's 1st year to trick or treat. The last 2 years he happened to be sick on Halloween. I think he will be right at the perfect age to go knocking on some doors, so it will be tons of fun!

I'll have lots to post about once this weekend is done!! Everyone have a Safe and fun Halloween!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

This morning I was watching tv and Dane came in and told me he was going fishing. So, I told him ok, and that I hoped that he would catch a big fish. Well, he disappeared off to the fishing hole aka our bath tub like he does so often. When he goes fishing he doesn't like for us to sit in there and watch him fish. I think he likes to talk to himself and have some alone time. haha So, we normally let him fish without us hovering.

All was well until I heard water running. I jumped up and ran into the bathroom to find him like this. The water was on, and he was soaked. Just having a little water fun is all I could gather. Somehow that stool found it's way into the bathroom... it usually is in the kitchen. What am I going to do with him??

Monday, October 25, 2010

We had a quiet weekend, not really doing too much. Friday night we went out for Mexican food, and ended up having to get our food to go. Yeah, we were that family. The ones with the unruly child. Quite embarrassing actually, and a "chat" with Kevin in the bathroom didn't seem to do the trick. We'll just chalk that night up to "we were just having a bad day".

Saturday we watched the Aggies beat Kansas, and UT lose to Iowa...it was a good day here at the Wittschen house. :) If the Aggies could just play like that every game I think Kevin's blood pressure would drop down to a normal range. ha This was the 1st game that we weren't sitting on pins and needles, and had a comfortable lead the entire game.

We got our laptop back Saturday after 3 weeks in the shop, only to find that the problems we were having were still there, and had not been fixed. Talk about frustrating. I miss my editing software that is on the laptop, tired of not being able to make my pictures the way I like them and I'm sick of using this old computer. Blah! So, the laptop has been sent back, and we hope that it can be fixed for real this time. Until then... I am stuck with pictures that aren't edited. :( But, I did get a new lens recently for my camera. I have been wanting this lens for literally 2 years now, so it was a HAPPY day when I finally got it. I can thank all the people who came to the garage sale and bought my stuff, and the people who bought stuff from me on Craig's list to give me the extra money so I could get it!! I'm still trying to figure out how to use it, but I do love it!

Sunday evening we started a new fall tradition. We carved our very first pumpkin. And when I say "we" I guess I really mean Kevin. haha We really had no idea what we were doing, so Kevin called to get some carving advice from his parents since he had remembered them doing it when he was a kid. I don't remember my family ever doing the pumpkin thing, so this was a new experience for me. Dane was all about it, until Kevin cut the top off and Dane saw what was in the pumpkin. He immediately got grossed out, and started saying "P.U, that's nasty" over and over. It was hilarious. I think he was shocked what was in the pumpkin, and wanted no part of it. He would put his hand over his mouth and make some pretty funny faces. So, we decided that the only name that fit for the pumpkin was Mr. P.U. We cleaned out the pumpkin, and then drew on the face that Kevin was going to carve out. Nothing fancy, but I think Mr P.U turned out really cute. We didn't want to go too elaborate this year, since we weren't sure how hard it would be, and I didn't want it to look scary just in case Dane might be scared of it once it had a face. But, he wasn't. He liked Mr P.U once he was carved. I like Mr P.U also, and I think Kevin did a great job for his 1st time!!